Seems that way, but I know as well as any scientist that all religious indoctrination does is jacks up your good neurochemicals making you feel euphoric and special, when actually you're a psychotic nuisance trying to make others just as insane as you are.

There's a sort of longing that one feels, to quench the "absurd" feeling that perhaps humans really are meaningless and that the universe is without purpose and design. A longing for some higher being - our "Creator," so to speak. Some reject it, others feel it from time to time ("angst," or an "existential crisis," perhaps). A life without God . . . some would be all right with it, others cannot imagine it.

This Bible verse may put these aforementioned things into perspective:

"I will put my laws in their minds and I will inscribe them on their hearts" (Hebrews 8:10).

I've heard many "Christian" viewpoints regarding this life that we live:

1) that we ought to reject it and aspire for a higher life in heaven. Nope, doesn't resonate with me.
2) that we are God's servants (slaves?) and our first and foremost duty is to serve the Lord all our days. Um, sure. No, I don't think that's all there is.
3) that we need to do good works in order to please the Lord and gain access to heaven. No, I don't think so, either.

If God has really "[inscribed His laws] on [my Heart]," my heart tells me that I ought to live this life to the fullest, that God has given me this life to enjoy Him and His blessings.

And someone's probably out there wondering, "How can you be so sure of this interpretation?"

I take the Bible for what it's worth. And Jesus has said, "I come so that you may have LIFE, and have it ABUNDANTLY" (John 10:10; emphasis added). Not a "life to come," not "eternal life." He said "life," which can't mean anything other than this "life" that I live now.

Some feel this longing for God. Others don't. According to the Bible, God has put His laws into people's minds so that they sense His presence. Whether or not one wills to seek Him out for who He is, and not some religious, man-made concept, is a different story altogether.

No, its not.
You'd be right if people who are not exposed to any deities at all (nomads; people in Asia, people in Africa who have not pushed to believe in a deity) would end up being much more depressed or not satisfactory with their lives...

but wait. THEY'RE NOT! A study shows that actually, compared to western societies, some groups who live outside of developed areas are much more likely to be satisfied with life and feel much more happier.

Your environment is the reason why you believe. Do you live in the U.S.?

The society in the U.S. is kind of disgusting. Its the only developed country that pressures its people to be INDIVIDUAL (which gives rise to "hey, my opinion is worth a damn" when a lot of the times, it ISN'T. this is why the U.S. has the problem of religious fanatics, creationists, theistic scientists, so on, and other countries don't), to be CAPITALISTIC/HARD WORKING (its always your fault if something bad happens), and pressures everyone to believe that WE are the center of EVERYTHING (which is the perfect kind of mind set to breed religious thought- it IS religion that is trying to bring in ideas that life revolves around us, and so on). That last idea that it pushes onto its people (and the first idea, and the second idea) all enforce the belief that there is something more to life than what we experience. For the second idea: if you're not rich, a belief in a deity is GREAT, because you're not limited to just this shitty life; for the third idea: it makes us afraid of OBJECTIVE information, and makes us prefer a much more deluded "promise" than a much more rational truth; for the first idea: YOU rationalize that there is a god- no one else can persuade you otherwise, because your belief revolves around YOU.

Let me just copy+paste what I said online on fb when discussing religion with friends. Basically a re-rebutel to any rebutles that will occur for my comment:

"Some people need to believe that there is something beyond 'life' (which, ironically, that line of thought only exists because of how our society works, where its priorities are, so on) even if its something extremely outlandish, because they feel that its either a temporary weird feeling and a gradual acceptance for said feeling from a belief, or accepting that life has no meaning.

The way U.S. society works-individuals are #1, a capitalistic sort of life view that needs to be have by everyone, everything revolves around us-actually encourages religious beliefs... so that kind of explains why we're the odd one out in developed countries.

All the other countries which have low religious rates are also societies that strive for everything the U.S. doesn't- for selflessness (so basically, its not "hear my opinion goddamnit"), a shared sense of property/environment, and the fact that there IS no country that the universe revolves around. Oh and they're generally more science-y. When you're striving for that, you have a populace that isn't caught up on its own individual beliefs-just because you can form an opinion about something, doesn't mean its right, which is what is necessary for upkeep of religion to stave off logic/science, when it confronts religious issues. And, in a country that doesn't see itself as the center of the world also probably won't be a good breeding place for a belief that seeks to put itself in the center of the universe.

^that's basically for hardcore/above-average religious person. These people ACTUALLY believe in their ideas.

For everyone else, it basically falls into a few reasons why they believe:

-Pascal's wager (which is not good logic): if you don't believe and you're wrong, you get either hell, or if you're right, nothing. if you believe, you either get heaven, or if you're wrong, nothing. people think if you believe its some sort of "safe"-action. there is so many things wrong with this line of thought- that you're only considering ONE religion, the fact that they pretty much are blatantly saying that they only believe because they're afraid of being punished, so on.

-societal pressure: this hits home, and its actually kind of bad. happens to minorities much more often than other groups. if you're black and you start thinking secularly- BOOM. your social circle has almost become 0. if you live in the middle east and you become secular- you dead. if you're a mexican and you start thinking secularly- BOOM. your social circle is gone, your family now doesn't like you very much. so the doubter now rationalizes: I don't want to lose these people, I'll believe or pretend to believe OR, you know... I think I may be wrong- there's no way all these people in my life could be wrong.

-being afraid of death and the fact that life does not revolve around us: people can't accept that there is no meaning to life (nor do they have the ounce to think that that means there is no limits on saying what YOUR meaning of life is- its still true, subjectively), or are afraid of the ideas that morals are not universal. so they think that since blah blah blah, there must be some sort of god behind it.

-some weird ass logic that usually ends up being untrue because you can use it to prove the existance of any other god (which, if you even know the idea of logic engines/computer logic, if you can use one piece of evidence to support one deity, but can also use the same evidence to support ANOTHER deity, cancels out the existance of said deities, because both assume that no other deity exists/are true... but then how did you justify their existence? etc, etc)"

Life has no purpose if you don't believe that God exists. You live for a period of time and then what? You die, and after you die there is nothing, what is life without God? pointless its so stupid that if there was no God its better if we never did exist, we wouldn't need to suffer. But if there was a God its a different story, you die and you go to heaven (or hope to) which i think puts more meaning into life

Life has no purpose if you don't believe that God exists. You live for a period of time and then what? You die, and after you die there is nothing, what is life without God? pointless its so stupid that if there was no God its better if we never did exist, we wouldn't need to suffer. But if there was a God its a different story, you die and you go to heaven (or hope to) which i think puts more meaning into life

In my opinion that is a load of crap.

My life is meaningful. I enjoy it. What more would I need.

my life isn't meaningful, but I enjoy it and I don't care what happens after

Life has no purpose if you don't believe that God exists. You live for a period of time and then what? You die, and after you die there is nothing, what is life without God? pointless its so stupid that if there was no God its better if we never did exist, we wouldn't need to suffer. But if there was a God its a different story, you die and you go to heaven (or hope to) which i think puts more meaning into life

In my opinion that is a load of crap.

My life is meaningful. I enjoy it. What more would I need.

I mostly think that what she's trying to say (and I agree 100% with her) is that it's good to know that everything you've done won't go "POUF bye bye" after you die. You won't be forgiven and, in a kind of spirit form, you'll stay in this world.

So whether or not you like that, you believe what you believe, but don't judge so harshly what someone believes deep inside them, there's a way to say "I disagree" politely I guess :/

I think it is less about believing in God, and more about believing in something greater than yourself. If it is God or not is irrelevant. That being said, I really feel that you can live even without the feeling of something greater. Yes I do believe in God, but my belief in him doesn't give my life meaning or purpose. What gives my life meaning is enjoying my time on this planet and trying to find true happiness (aka Nirvana)

I think it is less about believing in God, and more about believing in something greater than yourself. If it is God or not is irrelevant. That being said, I really feel that you can live even without the feeling of something greater. Yes I do believe in God, but my belief in him doesn't give my life meaning or purpose. What gives my life meaning is enjoying my time on this planet and trying to find true happiness (aka Nirvana)

Or there is the sense of Nirvana to the Buddhists. With their way, you find happiness in acceptance of self and prosperity. You only need what you need, and all other needless things only serve to bring you less joy. Through meditation, you find your center.

Buddhism is practiced side-by-side with Hinduism, and they both condone to scientific practices. Hence, I personally approve these marvelous faiths.

Life has no purpose if you don't believe that God exists. You live for a period of time and then what? You die, and after you die there is nothing, what is life without God? pointless its so stupid that if there was no God its better if we never did exist, we wouldn't need to suffer. But if there was a God its a different story, you die and you go to heaven (or hope to) which i think puts more meaning into life

Well, actually, you are quite wrong there, because there is no such thing as 'life'. 'Life' presupposes that there is existence and reality, which are both unfounded. First off, if you say that there is life, you must prove that there is such a thing called 'life', and that 'we' are going through with this process. You may say, 'I know so because I am experiencing it'- which is simply saying that I am living, therefore living exist, you merely stated a case, and have not proved it, and, if you mean that you are experiencing life through your senses, I deny their validity, because the senses supposed that there is this someone 'you' who has the ability of 'sensing things' because of 'life', and so, because these 'senses' bring in information that tells us that life exist, therefore life exist- that is also assuming life exist and then saying that that proves life exist.

Reality, too, is unfounded, because there is no proof that we are in reality. Let us, for a moment, pretend, as Descartes, that all things are a illusion, to the point we must doubt our own existence. Descartes decides here, 'Cogito, ergo sum', that is that because he is able to doubt his reality, he is thinking, and so that proves that he exist. The Poor Fellow is wrong here, because Cogito, or 'I think', presupposes that there is an 'Ego', I, that already exist, so 'ergo sum' would be a fallacious statement, because he has only proved that there is a process of Cogitare, of thinking, not that this thinking is necessarily connected with an 'I'. I take this argument further, though, I say that since there is no I, we are left with a process of thinking, but this process may too be an illusion for complete nothingness, and therefore, reality is unfounded, there is only unreality.

Because we exist only in unreality, it also follows that we should believe in God. Why? Because the evidence against God existing in Reality is so great, we must assign him to the realm of unreality, and therefore, since he does not exist, he is worthy of veneration from us who deny reality exist, existence exist, and that there is only nonexistence, and so, in a paradoxical sort of way, he 'exist' (this shows the weakness of reality's language). Thus, we are free now to accept the validity of Atheist's argument against God, as numerous as they are, and believe in God at the same time, because they argue that God cannot exist, we can agree that he doesn't exist, but then follow that by denying existence altogether, and are free to worship the non-existent.

Life has no purpose if you don't believe that God exists. You live for a period of time and then what? You die, and after you die there is nothing, what is life without God? pointless its so stupid that if there was no God its better if we never did exist, we wouldn't need to suffer. But if there was a God its a different story, you die and you go to heaven (or hope to) which i think puts more meaning into life

As a christian, well I agree with you. But if I am going to put my shoes on other people's belief, I will disagree with you. That's not always true with many people especially the atheists and agnostics. I find this topic very difficult to argue with since it is all depend on one person's belief and I believe not all people has the same belief as other people. I think there's no specific answer for this one.

Some people lived/live without knowing God (like aborted infants) so how can you tell them that their lives are not that meaningful?
You, yourself, cannot tell exactly what they live for cause you're not God. Some people believe that life is more meaningful when they'll finally find their soul mates (true love).. Some if they have reached their goals in life.. Some if they have accomplished their family's legacy.
That's how complicated people are because everyone has their own point of view in life. And I think it all lies in what they believe is their main PURPOSE in life..

So I have to correct you in that one although I am, myself, your fellow christian. But it doesn't mean that I'm Christian, I'll have to abide with what my religion says to me. I have my own thoughts and ideas. Kinda heretic isn't it?
But that's just how I view the world in my mind I guess. I hope I didn't offend you. I get what you are pointing at but I think your opinion is kinda offending to other people's religion and beliefs.

Why would going to "heaven" makes life more meaningful? What are you supposed to do there? Be happy 24/7?

Why would anyone want to live like that for eternity? To understand happiness you need to understand sadness in the first place.

And why does life need a meaning in the first place?

Hey I would like to live for eternity! then I could continue to read manga for eternity!
Joke a side, I disagree with the OP, I don't believe in god and I am more satisfied then most religious people I know.